Postmoderns and the Atonement

IntroductionThe Atonement is the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross for our sins. As 1 John 2:2 says, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

Historically, the Atonement has been understood in three ways: as the Victory of God, the Love of God and the Justice of God. These views are all biblical and they complement one another. All three are also needed to preach redemptive sermons. Today, however, postmodern people reject one of the views in particular.In this article we will:

(1) explain the three views of the Atonement(2) describe the postmodern attack on one view — substitutionary atonement(3) defend substitutionary atonement(4) conclude that all three views of the Atonement are necessary

The Victory of GodFirst, the Atonement has been understood as the Victory of Christ. Although crucifixion was the most shameful form of execution in the Roman world, the New Testament describes the Cross as being Christ's moment of triumph over Satan. So, Hebrews 2:14-15 reads:

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Today, many call this view of the atonement, Christus Victor, or Christ the Victor. It deeply resonated in the thinking of the early Christians, as seen in Athanasius' treatise On the Incarnation. Today, some theologians describe this as the “original view,” even though the other two views are also reflected in the biblical data.In our preaching, when we speak about the Victory of Christ on the cross, it especially resonates in the hearts of those who are facing evil. These people may feel paralyzed by fear. We can tell them that although the worse happened to Christ — even death itself — he rose again. And we are able to assert that when we trust in Christ, no matter what happens to us, we can have a hope that will never be taken from us, since we also will rise again.

Christ’s Victory, then, gives us hope. But it also gives us confidence. Christ has triumphed over the powers of darkness. They are powerless, even though they might seem momentarily omnipotent. When we trust in the Victory of Christ, it motivates us to live in the confidence that Christ will always be more powerful than evil.

The Love of GodWhile many early Christians stressed the Victory of God in the Atonement, others eventually began to emphasize the love of God in Christ's sacrifice. As John 3:16 reminds us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son." Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142 AD) is the early humanist who is most associated with this view, which continues to be very important within humanist and liberal streams in Christianity today.

When we know God’s love for us through the Cross, it changes our deepest motives. Instead of living for our pride and self-centeredness, we begin showing the same sacrificial love to others that God showed to us. This is the thought behind 1 John 4:10-11 -

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

The Justice of God (Substitutionary Atonement)The third view of the Atonement stresses the justice of God.

We all fall short of the glory of God and lay under God’s indictment. In the Cross, however, God commutes our sentence. Christ fulfills the legal requirements of God's violated laws by becoming our substitutionary atonement (see Romans 1:18-3:26). The pardon we receive from God is not only a full pardon, it is also totally merciful and completely unmerited.

This view of the Cross helps us as we live in an unjust world. On our own, we will not love, care for nor pray for evil people. Instead, we would rather see harm come to them, but then the Cross reminds us that we, too, are unjust. When we realize that God has forgiven us solely for the sake of Christ, it changes our motivation. It gives us the strength to forgive and the power to work for the redemption of every person. Knowing that there is a God of justice to whom all must one day give account, we become freed from a desire to seek vengeance or retribution.

Postmodern Objections to the "Justice of God" ViewToday, postmodern people have difficulty understanding this third view of the Atonement, centering on the Justice of God. This is because they:

1. do not sense a need for an Atonement since they don’t believe in sin2. do not have a strong awareness of the holiness of God3. do not believe that God is a judge4. do not understand why Christ’s death was unique and important5. consider blood sacrifices distasteful

Accordingly, some theologians — including some from the emergent church movement — have sought to do away with this view of substitutionary Atonement. They:

1. regard it as reflecting medieval legal thinking, not biblical thinking2. react to it as "pagan" — the placating of an angry god3. call it “cosmic child abuse” —an angry Father who tortures a Son4. affirm that violence is not needed to effect redemption5. link it to “abusive churches” who have a "theology of violence"6. say it has “potentially vicious and disastrous social and political implications”7. teach that Atonement is better understood "relationally," not legally8. offer a new, alternative view of the Atonement9. emphasize the positive implications of this new view for human relationships

The New View of the AtonementToday, a new view of the Atonement is being offered which totally disregards the judicial aspects found in substitutionary Atonement. The new view is a re-packaging of the "Love of God" and "Victory of God" perspectives. It asserts that Christ’s death is a display of the love of God that delivers us from the corrupting powers of this world. Through the example of the cross we learn how to live in God’s right way.The adherents of this new view are fundamentally opposed to a substitutionary Atonement. They affirm that God is not an angry Father who demands the death of his Son. That is, Christ did not suffer God's wrath for us as a substitute, nor is Christ’s righteousness transferred to us. Rather, we become right with God simply by living in God’s right way. They also assert that:

1. Christ’s sacrifice does not appease God; instead, it "cleanses" us from evil.2. The cross is not a legal transaction, but a display of the love of God.3. God does not defeat evil with violence, but with non-violence.4. Love overcomes hate.5. This leads to a "theology of reconciliation" that promotes peace in the world.6. Substitutionary atonement promotes a "theology of violence" and it causes churches to be abusive.

The New View EvaluatedThe new view freshly emphases the victory and love of God. It fails, however, to respect the justice of God and so it is not fully balanced. Consider the following:

1. In the Bible, substitution is an important image behind sacrificial Atonement. It is not secondary and cannot be easily dismissed.2. Similarly, the judicial aspects of the Atonement are clearly described in the New Testament and cannot be ignored.3. No responsible theologian teaches substitutionary Atonement to be “an angry Father who demands the death of a Son.” That’s a pagan conception and a clear case of “cosmic child abuse.” The actual teaching is that the demands of God’s holiness become satisfied in the depths of God’s love. The Incarnation and Atonement are God’s preordained plan for the redemption of the world.4. No responsible theologian teaches that God killed Jesus. Although the Atonement is a part of God’s pre-ordained plan, human hate killed Jesus. The violence of the cross is solely ours. Substitutionary Atonement is not a theology of divine violence, but of divine love.5. Accordingly, substitutionary Atonement does not cause a church to be “abusive” and a promoter of violence. To say so is itself violent and prejudicial since these churches often do many acts of mercy and justice.6. The new view eliminates the need for an Atonement at all. Who needs a death to know God’s love and follow God’s way when we could simply listen to God’s teaching? But this turns Christianity into a moral code. “The Atonement protects us from our native tendency to replace religion with morality.” (Mark Dever)

Atonement in the New TestamentWhat does the New Testament say about the Atonement? The following are representative verses about the meaning of the death of Christ. All three historical views of the Atonement are seen in these verses:

Jesus considered his death to be a part of God’s plan:Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many thingsat the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (Compare Mk 8:31 and Lk 9:22).Matthew 17:22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." (Mk 9:31, Lk 9:44)Matthew 20:18-28 "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" ... just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mk 10:33-34, Lk 18:31-33)Jesus considered his death to be a ransom:Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”Jesus describes his death as a substitution:John 3:14 "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."Paul describes Christ’s death as a part of God’s plan:From 1 Cor 15:3-8 ... Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve ...Paul considered Christ’s death to be a substitution:2 Cor 5:14-15 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.2 Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.Rom 3:20-25 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. ... From Rom 5:6-11 ... But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.Rom 8:3-4 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.Eph 1:7-8 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understandingPhil 3:9 ... and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.Col 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.Perspectives from other New Testament writings:John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Heb 2:14-17 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement forthe sins of the people. Heb 9:26-28 But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.1 John2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 3:8 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.

1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Reflecting all three views of the Atonement, these verses describe Christ's death as:

1. a sacrifice2. an atonement3. a substitution4. the plan of God5. the fullest manifestation of God's love6. a propitiation (averting the wrath of God from us)7. an imputation of Christ's righteousness to us8. God's way of reconciliation with us9. the conquest of Satan10. a deliverance from bondage to sin and emptiness11. the creation of a new humanity

Teaching the Atonement TodaySo, how should we preach the Atonement to postmodern people today? All three historical views of the Atonement are needed to comprehend the death of Christ. In the Atonement we see displayed God's Victory, Love and Justice. Mark Dever put it this way: “A Christ who wins victory over the powers of evil, whose death changes us, and whose death propitiates God is not only conceivable, he seems to be the Bible's composite presentation.”

We dare not eliminate the idea of the Justice of God from the Atonement. Indeed, the Bible's stress on the utter holiness of God, the reality of sin and the truth of God as a judge can only be resolved in a substitutionary Atonement. Timothy George has said, "God's love ... involves not only compassion, kindness, and mercy beyond measure … but also indignation against injustice and unremitting opposition to all that is evil." Or, as H. Richard Niebuhr famously said in 1934 of those who would eliminate substitutionary atonement: "A God without wrath brought man without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."Still, legal imagery does not fully convey the meaning of Christ’s death. The Atonement is not a mere legal transaction — "your sin for God's pardon. Deal done." We dare not speak in cold, forensic terms. People also need to experience and feel the Victory and the Love of God.Brennan Manning, the contemplative author, tried to do so when he wrote about his favorite verse, Luke 15:20, concerning the Prodigal Son. He renders it as:

While they were still a long way off, his father saw him and was deeply moved with compassion. He ran to him, clasped him in his arms, and he couldn't stop kissing him. He simply could not stop kissing him.

When we give people the Gospel, we want them to feel the Father embracing them and kissing them and not being able to stop. They need to see justice and mercy coming to them. They need to feel God's compassion.

Postmodern people will reject Christianity when it is presented as a mere code of ethics. But they will respond when we preach the redemptive work of the Cross in its all fullness. All three aspects of the Atonement are needed to preach like this. The Victory of God gives us hope and confidence. The Love of God motivates us to live sacrificially for others. And the Justice of God enables us to forgive and to work for the redemption of all people, even our enemies.